ORIGINS

The Fender Telecaster was developed by Leo Fender in Fullerton, California in 1949. Prior to its creation, the solid-body electric guitar had been created independently by several craftsman and companies, in the period roughly between 1932–1949, but none of these guitars had made a significant impact on the market. Leo Fender's Telecaster was the design that finally put the solid-body guitar on the map.
Fender had an electronics repair shop called Fender's Radio Service where he first repaired, then designed, amplifiers and electromagnetic pickups for musicians—chiefly players of electric semi-acoustic guitars, electric Hawaiian (lap steel) guitars, and mandolins. Players had been 'wiring up' their instruments in search of greater volume and projection since the late 1920s, and electric semi-acoustics (such as the Gibson ES-150) had long been widely available. Tone had never, until then, been the primary reason for a guitarist to go electric, but in 1943, when Fender and his partner, Doc Kauffman, built a crude wooden guitar as a pickup test rig, local country players started asking to borrow it for gigs. It sounded shiny and sustaining. Fender got curious, and in 1949, when it was long-understood that solid construction offered great advantages in electric instruments, but before any commercial solidbody Spanish guitars had caught on (the small Audiovox company apparently offered a modern, solidbody electric guitar as early as the mid-1930s), he built a better prototype.
That hand-built prototype, an anomalous white guitar, had most of the features of what would become the Telecaster. It was designed in the spirit of the solid-body Hawaiian guitars manufactured by Rickenbacker -- small, simple units made of Bakelite and aluminum with the parts bolted together—but with wooden construction. (Rickenbacker, then spelled 'Rickenbacher,' had also offered a solid Bakelite-bodied electric Spanish guitar in 1935, many details of which seem echoed in Fender's design.)
The initial single pickup production model appeared in 1950, and was called the Esquire. Fewer than fifty guitars were originally produced under that name, and most were replaced under warranty because of early manufacturing problems. In particular, the Esquire necks had no truss rod and many were replaced due to bent necks. Later in 1950, this single-pickup model was discontinued, and a two-pickup model was renamed the Broadcaster. From this point onwards all Fender necks incorporated truss rods. The Gretsch company, itself a manufacturer of hollowbody electric guitars (and now owned by Fender), claimed that "Broadcaster" violated the trademark for its Broadkaster line of drums, and as a newcomer to the industry, Fender decided to bend and changed the name to Telecaster, after the newly popular medium of television. (The guitars manufactured in the interim bore no name, and are now popularly called 'Nocasters.') The Esquire was reintroduced as a one-pickup Telecaster, at a lower price.
In 1951, Fender also released the Precision Bass which was a stablemate to the Telecaster. This was later released as the Fender Telecaster Bass when the P-Bass line was updated to more closely resemble the Stratocaster.


THE TELECASTER SOUNDS

The Telecaster is known for its bright, rich, cutting tone. One of the secrets to the Telecaster's sound centers on the bridge pickup, which has more windings than the neck pickup and hence has a much higher output, sometimes having twice the inductance of the neck pickup. At the same time, a capacitor is fitted between the slider of the volume control and the output, allowing treble sounds to bleed through while the mid and lower ranges are damped. [3] A slanting bridge pickup enhances the guitar's treble tone. The solid body allows the guitar to deliver a clean amplified version of the strings' tone. This was an improvement on previous electric guitar designs, whose hollow bodies made them prone to unwanted feedback. These design elements allowed musicians to emulate steel guitar sounds, making it particularly useful in country music. Such emulation can be enhanced by use of a B-Bender (B-string bending device invented by Gene Parsons of The Byrds and pioneered by country guitarist Clarence White), enabling a smooth, precise change of pitch for a single string within a chord. White's original Telecaster fitted with the B-Bender device is now in the possession of country guitarist Marty Stuart who uses the guitar as his main onstage instrument. Stuart has nicknamed the guitar "Clarence" after its original owner.


SIGNATURES TELECASTER PLAYERS

Over the years, many famous guitarists have made the Telecaster their signature instrument. In the early days, country session musicians were drawn to this instrument designed for the "working musician." These included Buck Owens, Waylon Jennings, James Burton, who played with such stars as Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley, and Merle Haggard (a Signature Telecaster model player himself). Burton's favorite guitar was his famous Pink Paisley model Telecaster. Later, Danny Gatton blended diverse musical styles (including blues, rockabilly and bebop) with such great proficiency and clarity that he became known as the "telemaster." Eric Clapton used a Telecaster during his stint with The Yardbirds, and also played a Custom Telecaster fitted with Brownie's neck while with Blind Faith. Roy Buchanan and Albert Collins proved the Telecaster equally suited for playing the blues. Muddy Waters also consistently used the Telecaster and Mike Bloomfield also used the guitar on his earlier works. Soul sessionist Steve Cropper used a crisp, spare Tele sound with Booker T. and the M.G.'s, Sam and Dave, Otis Redding and countless other soul and blues acts. Additionally, George Harrison used a custom-built rosewood Telecaster during the recording sessions for The Beatles' Let It Be album (including the famous rooftop concert), on which the sound of the Telecaster was modified by being amplified through a revolving Leslie cabinet speaker.
With the development of rock, the Tele inspired and sustained yet another genre. Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones has composed many classic riffs on his battered "Micawber" Tele. With endurance to match that of his guitar, Bruce Springsteen has given many energetic performances with his Esquire. Iconic are also worn-off green and respectively white Telecasters of the two frontmen of Status Quo, Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt. Another signature Telecaster player is Andy Summers of The Police. Jimmy Page used a psychedelic-colored 1958 Telecaster, (painted by Page himself, and also known as the "Dragon Telecaster") on the first Led Zeppelin albums, and also for the lead solo in the 1971 song "Stairway to Heaven". The guitar had been given to Page by his friend Jeff Beck,[4] but by the time of the recording of Led Zeppelin's fourth album, on which "Stairway" appears, Page had begun using various Gibson electric guitars heavily, so the use of the Telecaster was considered unusual. Albert Lee's extensive use of the Telecaster earned him the nickname of "Mr. Telecaster." Joe Strummer (frontman of the punk band The Clash) used his worn and battered 1966 Telecaster (originally Sunburst but spray painted black) with its distinctive "Ignore Alien Orders" sticker from the beginning of his musical career until the day he died. In January 2007, Fender issued the G. E. Smith signature Telecaster in honour of Smith's reputation as a modern master of the Telecaster. G.E. Smith was the lead guitarist in the Hall & Oates band and the musical director of Saturday Night Live. Though preferring the Epiphone Sheraton and similar ES-335 Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher also uses the 60's Telecaster model when performing live and for recording albums including the recent Oasis album Dig Out Your Soul (2008).